Disenchantment overcame me then,
Horrified by what had become.
Time moved along for far too long,
Before I started singing a different song.
Easily perceived as scrapes and gashes,
Finally, I decided to peer beyond;
Inquisitive and full of hope,
I courageously opened my wounds again,
Stepping into an ancient war zone.
Beneath the surface of each harrowing act,
A gift had been quietly waiting within.
How furious it would make them all to know,
What their actions had inadvertently done.
Within each wound that had been inflicted upon me,
The loveliest pearls had patiently grown!
Never again will I regret,
Their many painfully thrown stones.

© Katherine Bernhardt